We had a lot of snow recently,and I needed to park my car another place. I drove it into the parkinglot which was not cleared for snow yet,with no problems at all. Trying to back out later was difficult as the respons from throttle was close to zero. I switched off the antispinn but still the wheels wouldt not roll i reverse. No spinn either. Forward was not the same as switching off antispinn gave me full throttle and I managed to spin out by turning the wheels.

We had a lot of snow recently,and I needed to park my car another place. I drove it into the parkinglot which was not cleared for snow yet,with no problems at all. Trying to back out later was difficult as the respons from throttle was close to zero. I switched off the antispinn but still the wheels wouldt not roll i reverse. No spinn either. Forward was not the same as switching off antispinn gave me full throttle and I managed to spin out by turning the wheels.

Is the antispinn always engaged backing up??

You kinda need to spend time going over the car manual, to fully take advantage of the car's potential.

You never know, you might find out something that you never knew the car had that feature.

Even with DSC "completely off" I suspect there is some kind of mild brake-activated traction control in play. You really need to be aggressive with the throttle in these types of situations.

I can guarantee that there is no traction control with DSC off.

I did donuts easily on snow with DSC off.

Something like this, but not that wildly as I have proper winter tyres:

That means nothing, really. You can do donuts in the snow in any mode. There has been quiet dispute for some time now about whether the X3's traction and stability control systems are ever completely off.

Traction control can be turned off, but some kind of stability control remains on, as in "undefeatable". It won't kick in as early when "disabled", but will still prevent the car from doing endless donuts.
There is simply no comparison, for fun in the snow, with a lesser powered but no stability control awd car...

That means nothing, really. You can do donuts in the snow in any mode. There has been quiet dispute for some time now about whether the X3's traction and stability control systems are ever completely off.

Well, can you elaborate what means something to you? For a fact I know that my car did nothing to help me while I played with it on snow. I spun around and understeered with it a lot.

And for a fact I know that only in DSC off I can play like I want. i can not do donuts in normal or traction mode.

What do you base that statement on? There are many examples, including drives at the BMW factory that indicate you are incorrect.

First of all, the car won't do endless donuts either in normal or sport mode, unless traction control is disabled. If not, the computer will kill the throttle when the tires start to have fun !

Secondly, even with DSC on "off", there is still one wheel braking that occur once the yaw angle / speed sensor sense that there is too much oversteer for too long. Same thing happens with other cars, like the VWs, it's not a "real", 100% off, stability control. Try to drift a STI or an older AWD car, you won't sense this one-wheel braking trying to... break your fun.

Never went to the BMW factory, only lapping on tarmac and snow closed circuits. Is there any snow at the factory track ? The 100% DSC off vs 90% off difference thing is negligible if the car is not running on snow...

That means nothing, really. You can do donuts in the snow in any mode.

It would be very hard to do such tightly knotted donuts with DSC and traction control on. I would be very happy to see a F25 X3 doing the same kind of stunt with everything on.

On the other hand, "looser" donuts will happen with the traction control off. The non-100%-defeatable stability control will allow you to slip, but WILL brake a wheel when you will get tighter donuts (ie : when the Audi spins around its center axis)

Do we really need a fully defeatable DSC with the X3 to have fun in the snow ? Probably not. It's not a STI after all. Most X3 drivers won't care. Even the new Golf R is not 100%-defeatable and is aimed at sportier-driving folks...

It would be very hard to do such tightly knotted donuts with DSC and traction control on. I would be very happy to see a F25 X3 doing the same kind of stunt with everything on.

On the other hand, "looser" donuts will happen with the traction control off. The non-100%-defeatable stability control will allow you to slip, but WILL brake a wheel when you will get tighter donuts (ie : when the Audi spins around its center axis)

Do we really need a fully defeatable DSC with the X3 to have fun in the snow ? Probably not. It's not a STI after all. Most X3 drivers won't care. Even the new Golf R is not 100%-defeatable and is aimed at sportier-driving folks...

DSC is 100% defeatable, but DTC is on in it's performance-oriented setting when DSC is off. So you can't say all assists are necessarily off.

To go to the poster's original quesiton, I had a situation just the other day where a big burm of snow was plowed behind my X3. I put it in reverse and rolled into the snow very slowly and eventually reached a point where my wheels spun. I then moved back forward and, after confirm it was safe to do so, put it back in Reverse and took a little momentum at the burm. Blew thru it with no concerns about the amount of throttle response available. Definately had power to cause a bit of wheel spin which was then limited by the traction control system.

If your vehicle does not behave this way, I'd question the amount of throttle application/driving technique or get it checked out for any issues.